


Same Old Lang Syne

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Christmas, Gen, M/M, Old Friends, Songfic, reconnecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 12:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12794553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: This follows my story, Always Love You, but the two can be read separately.Five years after the day everyone walked away from him, Aaron gets something back.





	Same Old Lang Syne

**Author's Note:**

> This is a songfic based on Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg. (If you don't know the song, crawl out from under your rock and go listen. Take tissues.)

Aaron shuffled through the grocery store, shopping list propped in the seat of the cart. Grocery shopping on Christmas Eve was depressing, especially when it was shopping for one. Anyone he would have wanted to spend the holiday with was out of town. Rounding the corner to pick up a bag of frozen peas if they had them, he stopped short and stared. She was thinner now, her hair longer, but there was no mistaking Penelope Garcia standing halfway up the aisle. Quietly approaching her from behind, Aaron nervously reached out and touched her elbow, causing her to look up.

At first Penelope thought she was in the man’s way and backed up. “I’m sorry.” Then she looked again. When he gave her a shy smile, she gasped slightly. “Aaron?” Surprised to see him here, she closed the space to hug him, her arm pulling her oversized purse out of the cart, dumping its contents on the floor. As they both knelt to pick everything up, she glanced at him. His hair was salt and pepper now, but still cut short like she remembered. His face had more lines and creases and he was wearing glasses too. When they stood again, she looked him over better, taking in the khaki pants and button down with now tie and tan sweater, the look made him look more like a professor than a seasoned FBI agent. “Wow, how are you?”

“Good.” He wasn’t sure why he caught her attention now. “And you? Are you just visiting?” He knew he was kept out of the loop as far as the former analyst was concerned. Dave kindly shared photos and video of CJ on a regular basis and twice a year when Penelope returned to the states, CJ stayed for a week with the old Italian and Aaron got to spend time with them. He hadn’t realized they were in town now though.

“No.” She shifted her weight. “We’ve actually just moved back.”

“Oh.” He looked around the aisle. “You look…exactly as I remember you.”

She gave him a disbelieving look. “Thanks, you too.”

He smiled and shook his head. “You’re too kind. I know I’ve aged a lot in the past few years.”

“No, it’s… You look good. Really.”

“How’s…How’s CJ?” He hadn’t seen the boy since his summer visit. “Does he like school?”

“He loves school.” She began to walk slowly, making sure he was going to wander the aisles with her. “He’s a little afraid of starting school here in the States, but I’ve told him he’ll make new friends in no time.” The silence between them eventually turned awkward. “How…What’s new in your life? Anyone special?”

He chewed his lip. “Spencer is finally giving me another chance.”

“That’s…that’s good. Are you still with the team?”

“I am. I only travel on occasion now though, mostly I lecture.”

Falling back into silence, she led him to the check out and they both paid. When she couldn’t find anything new to add, she decided it was time to part ways. “Well, it was good seeing you, Aaron.”

“Yeah, you too.” He responded absently. “Wait.” He touched her arm again. “If you don’t have to rush back… We could go for a drink? Catch up a bit?”

She could see the hopeful look on his face. “Sure. I’d like that.” She glanced at her bags. “Do you just want me to follow…”

“I’ll drive.” He cut her off. “Sorry. I- I’ll drive. If you don’t mind?”

“No, that’s fine.”

Fifteen minutes later, they were both in Aaron’s small SUV looking for an open place to get a drink. She glanced around the vehicle and something caught her eye. “You have another kid?”

“Huh?” He glanced at her.

“There’s a car seat in the back. You… moved on with someone else before getting back with Spencer?”

“Oh, um, no. Spencer, he uh, he adopted a little girl from a case. She’s…she’s three now. Addy.”

“Oh.” Her mind filled with questions. “So… you have a seat?”

“I’ve been helping him? He jumped in with both feet about two years ago and it was rough at first. She was only just over a year old and had a real hard time adjusting.” He didn’t say anymore as they started passing closed pub after closed pub. He began to get frustrated, he didn’t want to give up yet but it looked like he just needed to drop her back to her car. Turning around, he chewed the inside of his lip as he drove.

“Hey, pull in there.” Garcia spoke up, pointing off to the right.

“Here?” He asked, already pulling into the lot of a liquor store.

“Yeah.” She gave him a proper smile this time. “When did we ever need a bar to drink?” When the SUV was parked, they both climbed out and she led him in and around until she spotted a six- pack of cider in the cooler and excitedly pulled it out, heading for the register. In a move reminiscent of years ago, she turned on her heel, walking backward and she giggled. “Come on, Hotch.” She held up the cider before handing it to the bored looking clerk.

With a sigh, Aaron trudged after her to the counter and then back to the SUV. By the time they got back to the grocery store lot, the store was closed for the holiday. Taking his key out of the ignition, he slid his seat back and accepted a bottle when she passed him one.

“So… Spencer has a daughter.” She started.

Aaron nodded, pulling out his phone and thumbing through until he found a photo of the little girl with dark curls pulled into pigtails. “After… After you moved… Spencer had broken things off with me and the team was…upset, I guess. I took a little time off and really looked at my life, my choices. I sort of derailed for a while.”

“Derailed?” She tipped her head to the side, studying him.

He drew in a slow breath. “I ended up taking three months off work. By the time I came back, I’d started seeing a therapist to deal with everything.” He finished his bottle and dropped in back in the carton. “I was out, at least around our bullpen, but I was still terrified of being _out._ I spent the first few weeks moping around my apartment, drinking all day until John the, uh, the assistant director, he turned up on my doorstep.”

“Really?”

Aaron nodded. “I still have no idea how. Or why. But I committed fully to the process of accepting who I was and when Spencer adopted Addy, he didn’t refuse my help.”

“That’s good. So, two years then? Sounds like it’s going well?” She handed him a second beer.

“It’s been good. I appreciate every day that he’s giving me this second change.” He chewed his lip. “Was, ah, was there anyone? In England?”

Penelope went quiet a minute. “No. I went on one proper date, but… It felt wrong. I focused on work and CJ.” She shifted the subject back to him. “So, where is Spencer tonight then?”

“He took Addy to Vegas to see his mom. She’s not been doing well and then doctors don’t think she’s got long left. I offered to go but she gets a bit paranoid when I’m around.” He bit him lip. “I’m sorry, Penelope, for putting you through what I did back then. It wasn’t fair to you. Or Spencer. After Haley and Jack…died.” He swallowed hard. “I wanted to just pretend they had never existed because then it wouldn’t hurt. And you helped me through all of that. Then…” He stared out at the thick, falling snow. “Spencer invited me to dinner and dinner became a regular thing and I didn’t get it until we had shared a bottle of wine and I found myself naked in bed with his hand wrapped around both our…” He cut off, flaming red. “I told him I wasn’t gay. Then we had sex again and as I was rushing to dress and run away, I told him I wasn’t gay. After a while it was my mantra, even if I didn’t say it out loud, I was saying it in my head. The kissing, holding hands, sex…intimacy…” He let out a deep breath. “And then there you were.”

“I knew you two were together. I saw you sometimes once I knew what to look for, but one night… Spencer and I had adjoining rooms.” Her voice dropped. “I saw you.”

“Oh.”

“Does it make me more guilty that I knew and didn’t care? I know we were drunk, but I knew what was going to happen and I didn’t say stop.”

“No.” The SUV lapsed into silence for a long while, the pair of occupants considering their past sins.

Finally, as a chill began to creep in, she turned to him again. “Look, Aaron. I’m staying at the Hyatt but CJ is already at Dave’s for the night. Why don’t you come tomorrow and see him and eat with us?”

“Oh. I don’t want to interrupt family time.”

“Aaron… You are family. And maybe…maybe it’s time for me to stop being selfish and let CJ know that.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

“If you come tomorrow, then we can all sit and tell him who you really are.”

Aaron was speechless. “Are you sure?”

It was her turn to blush. “I shouldn’t have refused you back then, it was cruel of me after everything you’d already lost.” She climbed out of the vehicle and into the snow. “Please, come tomorrow, Aaron.”

“Yeah, I’ll try.”

She rolled her eyes and shut the door.

Aaron watched her cross the small distance to her car and get in, waiting for her to driving away before leaving himself.  As he headed home, he smiled to himself, Christmas wasn’t going to turn out quite so lonely after all. He was getting a family for Christmas.


End file.
